


The Skating Incident

by stanleyvris



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: And Failing, F/F, elmax - Freeform, max trying to be a cool skater, maxel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-29 06:20:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13921203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stanleyvris/pseuds/stanleyvris
Summary: A skating mishap landed Max Mayfield in crutches, and Eleven was determined to protect Max whilst she was injured.





	The Skating Incident

“I can still skate,” snapped Max.

“You have a broken leg,” replied Eleven sternly, pointing at the cast that encased Max’s left leg.

“Yeah, and?” huffed the red head.

“So, you aren’t skating,” said Eleven. Max folded her arms and glared at the bulging white cast. She hated being injured, especially if it was something as big as a broken leg. A broken leg meant no skateboarding for months, and having to hobble around with crutches and having an eyesore of a cast wrapped around you. It had been three days since Max Mayfield had slipped off her board and went tumbling down the hill after landing awkwardly on her leg.

“It’s so plain,” she grumbled.

Eleven had been busy collecting blankets. “Hm?”

“My cast, it’s so boring to look at,” continued Max, tilting her head to look over the cast on her leg.

“Let’s get the boys over,” suggested Eleven, ignoring Max’s comment. Max shrugged before shifting her position on the couch so that she was laying down. Eleven had disappeared back around the corner to call the boys on her walkie talkie. Within 15 minutes, everyone had arrived at the forest cabin.

\--

“Max!” gasped Will, rushing over to the couch, “what happened?”.

“Broken leg,” answered Max with a grimace.

“A bit too tubular,” joked Lucas, causing Dustin to let out a laugh before turning away and clearing his throat.

“How long will you have the cast on?” asked Mike.

“Don’t know, can’t remember what the doctor said,” replied Max. Mike went to say something else but Eleven came back around the corner holding a bundle of blankets and a VHS tape in her hand.

“Since we can’t go outside because Max is injured, let’s watch a movie,” she said as she passed everyone a blanket. Dustin took the tape and readied the movie. Max watched as everyone moved around the room with ease, not burdened by an injury or having to wrestle with crutches. Eleven turned around and spotted the expression on Max’s face, and immediately bent down beside her. “What’s wrong?” she asked, searching Max’s face.

“Just mad about my leg,” replied Max, “I’m fine,” she continued, flashing a smile at Eleven. Eleven smiled back before leaning forward and planting a kiss on Max’s freckled forehead. A broken leg may suck, but Eleven knew exactly how to cheer Max up.

Will and Lucas set out collecting snacks whilst Mike set down pillows across the floor. After setting up the movie, Dustin stepped back and went to sit down on the couch, and narrowly missed Max’s leg. Max let out a yelp as Dustin grazed the tip of cast, and Eleven whipped around to see what had happened.

“Dustin!” gasped Eleven, “you need to be careful!”.

“Sorry… El,” replied Dustin sheepishly, standing up from the couch. Eleven raised her eyebrows at him, “sorry Max,” he finished.

“That’s ok,” said Max weakly. Eleven looked at Max with an expression that read ‘are you ok?’, to which Max smiled again to reassure her girlfriend.

“Wait, before we start the movie…” said Eleven slowly before bringing her arm around from behind her to reveal a handful of coloured markers, “we need to sign Max’s cast!” she said, winking at Max. The boys let out a whoop and each grabbed a pen before turning to face Max.

“Can we?” asked Lucas.

“Duh, it’s ugly when it’s this plain,” replied Max. And so, each of the boys wrote their name on Max’s cast. Mike, with his half-cursive writing in dark blue. Dustin, with his messy writing in yellow. Lucas, with his neat writing in dark green. And Will, with his name in small cursive and red. He was just about to cap his pen when Max spoke up, “Will, can you decorate my cast please?”

Will looked up at her and beamed before nodding enthusiastically.

“Wait, I need to sign it first!” called out Eleven, grabbing a pink pen and signing her name with a small love heart beneath it. Everyone handed their pen to Will, and for the next five minutes they all stood in silence, watching Will draw. In the end, green vines decorated with yellow, pink and blue flowers wrapped around the cast, and in areas where they were no drawings, there was each of the party members’ names.

“Thanks, Will,” whispered Max as her eyes travelled over her newly coloured cast. It was much, much better like this. Now, instead of looking down and seeing an injury, she saw her friends.

Eleven capped all the pens and put them away as the rest of the group got ready to watch the movie. Max forced herself to sit upright and swung around on the couch to prop her leg up on a pile of pillows as Eleven made sure everyone settled into a spot around the TV and had some drink for the movie. Max watched her, and continued to as Eleven sat down beside her. El caught Max’s stare and turned to face her.

“What?” she said, her forehead creasing.

“Thank you for looking after me,” whispered Max before leaning in and giving Eleven a brief kiss. When she pulled back, she saw El’s cheeks had turned pink, and let out a giggle in response, which only made Eleven blush harder.

“Alright, start the movie,” said Eleven, smiling at Max.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the anon who suggested a write a fic where Max is injured and El looks after her. Protective!El is adorable.


End file.
